Page-printing machines



March 6, 1962 J. BAUDER ETAL 3,024,308

PAGE-PRINTING MACHINES Filed Aug. 5, 1960 4 Sheets-$heet 1 nven/ocs JOSEF BAUDER OTTO STE/IVER WOLFGANG HERRMANN HERBERT \JAHN ATTORNEKE March 6, 1962 J. BAUDER ETAL' I 3,024,308

PAGE-PRINTING MACHINES lnvenfors uosEF BAUDER OTTO 57'E/NER WOLFGA N6 HERRMANN HERBERT c/AHN M p m A TTOP/VEYS March 6, 1962 J. BAUDER ETAL PAGE-PRINTING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed 'Aug. 5, 1960 In vemors JO$EF BA UDER' orro STE/NER WOLFGANG HfRIYM/lN/V HERBERT JAHN By ATTOP/VEKS March 7 6, 1962 J. BAUDER ETAL 3,024,308 PAGE-PRINTING MACHINES Filed Aug. 5, 1960 4 Sheets-Sl ieet 4 mvenfors JQSEF BAUDER OTTO .STEINER WOLFGANG HERRMANN HE RDERT LIA hN flniteci States 3,024,308 PAGE PRlNTING MACHINES Josef Bautler, Munich-Selim and Otto Steiner, Wolfgang Herrmann, and Herbert .lahn, Munich, Germany, assignors to Siemens & Haiske Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin, Germany, a German company Filed Aug. 5, 1960, Ser. No. 47,813 Claims priority, application Germany Aug. 20, 1959 13 Claims. (Cl. 178-25) The invention relates to page-printing machines and more particularly to page-printing teleprinters operating with a multi-unit binary code, for example with a sixunit code. Such teleprinters are sometimes provided with a plurality of type levers each of which is adapted to print two or more different characters. The various characters are allocated to two or more groups, one group being printed when the type levers are, or the type roller is, in one position and the other group being printed when the type levers are, or the type roller is, in another position. Normally characters in one group are represented by code combinations in which a predetermined element, for example the first element is a mark, whereas characters in the other group are represented by code combinations in which the predetermined element is a space. Further such teleprinters may be provided with two groups of keys, each group of keys being adapted to cause the printing of one group of characters. It is to be understood that the number of groups is not limited to two and that each type lever may be adapted to print, for example, four or six different characters.

It is an object of the invention to provide a pageprinting machine, for example a page-printing teleprinter, having means for printing characters in two groups and means for automatically selecting the group to be printed.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a page-printing machine, for example a page-printing teleprinter having a machine member, for example a type roller carriage, movable into at least two different positions for the printing of different characters, and means for automatically controlling the position of said machine member.

In accordance with the inventionthe position of a member allocated to a pre-determined element of a multi-unit code is sensed by two transmission members and when these members are operated they couple an adustment device for a machine member which is adjustable into one of two positions for printing different type groups to an auxiliary drive. The member sensed by the two transmission members may be the receiving selector finger set by the pre-determined element of the multi-unit code or it may be a key bar set by the actuation of a key in the appropriate group of keys.

The transmission members may be releasable to become effective in dependence on the position of a control shaft at an instant corresponding to the reception of the pre-determined element of the multi-unit code.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention each of the two transmission members is associated with one position of the machine member to be adjusted, for example the type roller carriage, and that one ofthe two transmission members which is associated with the actual position of the machine member is blocked against displacement.

In this case there is always one transmission member blocked by the machine member, and, if the pre-determined element in the code combination is different (e.g. is a mark instead of a space) from the corresponding element in the preceding code combination, the same transmission member will also be blocked by the receiving selector finger or by the key bar, whereas, if the predetermined element in the code comhinationis the 3,024,308 Patented Mar. 6, 1962 lice same as the corresponding element in the preceding code combination, the other transmission member is blocked by the said receiving selector finger or the said key bar.

The invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of an arrangement for automatically adjusting the typing roller of a page-printing teleprinter,

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of an arrangement for automatically adjusting the typing roller of a similar machine for producing a local record in the form of a sheet,

FEGURE 3 illustrates one embodiment of a type lever and typing roller,

FEGURE 4 illustrates a modification of the embodiment illustrated in FIGURE 3, and

FIGURE 5 illustrates the constructional configuration of a typing roller carriage.

FIGURES 1 and 2 illustrate only the portions of a page-printing teleprinter that are essential for the invention. A motor shaft 1, an intermediate shaft 2 and a receiver or transmission shaft 3 are similar to those used in a conventional teleprinter. The teleprint-er illustrated, however, differs from a normal teleprinter designed for a five-unit alphabet in that it includes an additional receiving selector finger 4 which is set by the first element of a six-unit code. Further in the machines illustrated in the first two figures an additional worm wheel 5 is located on the intermediate shaft 2 for the purpose of driving a coupling shaft 6 which drive can be made effective after a three-jaw coupling 14 has been released. In this case, for instance the motor shaft 1 makes three thousand revolutions per minute, the intermediate shaft 2 eight hundred and fifty seven revolutions per minute, the transmitting shaft 3 four hundred revolutions per minute, the coupling shaft 6 four hundred and sixty one revolutions per minute and a printing shaft (not shown) four hundred and thirteen revolutions per minute. The coupling shaft 6 serves in this case for driving a typing roller lifting shaft 7 which rotates at half the speed of the coupling shaft and serves for lifting and lowering the typing roller. Two cams 8 and 9 are provided on the shaft 7 and each cam co-operates with a channel member 10a, 10b. The two channel members form parts of a carriage 10 for the typing roller 11 and the weight of this carriage is partially balanced by a spring 12. Two columns 10c and 10d of the carn'age rest against support rollers 13 which are mounted on fixed axles. Reverse motion of the shaft 6 is prevented by a cam 15 and its associated spring-loaded pawl.

In the arrangement illustrated in FIGURE 1 transmission members 17, 18 pivotable about an axis 16 serves for sensing the position of the receiving selector finger 4. The transmission member 17 is coupled to a lever 20 .pivotable about an axis 19 and the transmission member 18 is coupled to a lever 21 which is also pivotable about the axis 19. The transmission member 17 is urged in an anti-clockwise direction by a spring 29 and the transmission member 18 is urged in the same direction by a spring '30. Thus the levers'20' and 21' tend to follow the face of a cam 3a mounted to rotate with the receiving shaft 3; However, the transmission member facing the receiving selector finger 4 at any instant is prevented from rotating under the influence of its spring and accordingly the associated lever 20 or 21 is prevented from following the cam 3a. The levers 20 and 21 co-operate with a lever 23 which is pivotable about an axis 22 and which controls by means of a cord 24 a spring-loaded release pawl 26 which normally prevents rotation of a blocking cam 25 on the coupling shaft 6. A cranked arm we connects the carriage 10 to a bellcrank lever 27 which is pivotable about an axis 28. The end of the bell-crank lever 27 remote from the arm serves to block one or the other of the levers and 21 in accordance with the position of the carriage 10.

In order to explain the operation of the arrangement illustrated in FIGURE 1, it will be assumed that the selector finger 4 is in the position shown in full lines, i.e. facing the transmission member 17, and that the carriage 10 is in its lower position so that the free end of the bell-crank lever 27 is opposite the lever 21. The shaft 1 rotates and drives the shaft 3 through the intermediate shaft 2. The cam-follower arms of the levers 20 and 21 are urged against the surface of the rotating cam 3a by the springs 29 and 30 respectively. However, when the low part of the cam comes opposite the lever arms, the arm of the lever 20 is prevented from following the cam because the transmission member 17 is prevented from rotating by the finger 4; similarly the arm of the lever 21 is prevented from following the cam because the lever 21 is blocked by the end of the bellcrank lever 27. Thus, when the selector finger 4 and the carriage 10 are in the positions assumed for the above description, no change in the position of the carriage takes place.

It will now be assumed, on the other hand, that the selector finger 4 is moved to the position shown in dotted lines. In this case the cam-follower arm of the lever 20 is able to follow the cam 30 throughout its rotation since the transmission member 17 is no longer blocked by the selector finger 4. Thus the spring 29 rotates the transmission member 17 and the lever 20 in an anticlockwise direction as viewed in the drawing. This movement also causes anti-clockwise rotation of the lever 23 which thus pulls the cord 24 and rotates the release pawl 26 against the action of its associated spring. Thus the pawl 26 releases the blocking cam and the shaft 6 is free to rotate. Soon after the shaft 6 has commenced to rotate, the lever 28 is lifted by the cam 3a so that the tension in the cord 24 is released. Thus, when the shaft 6 has completed one revolution, the pawl 26 is pulled back by its spring into its original position in which it prevents further rotation of the cam 25. As has already been stated, the shaft 6 drives the shaft 7 through a 2-to-1 reduction gear, and thus the shaft 7 is caused to rotate through 180 during the single revolution of the shaft 6. The cams 8 and 9 are so shaped that during this 180 rotation the carriage 10 is lifted from its lower position to its higher position and remains there.

If the selector finger 4 remains in the position illustrated by dotted lines for a further rotation of the shaft 3, no further release of the pawl 26 will take place because the lever 20 is now blocked by the free end of the bell-crank lever 27, while the transmission member 18 remains blocked by the finger 4. However, when the selector finger changes back to the position illustrated in full lines, the transmission member 18 will be free to move and accordingly the shaft 6 will be released for one revolution. As a result the shaft 7 will rotate through a further 180 so that the carriage 10 will be returned to its lower position.

In the arrangement illustrated in FIGURE 2 the memhers I to 3, 5 to 15, 19 and 22 to 28 are similar to the members of like number illustrated in FIGURE 1. In addition to these members, one of a number of key levers 31 may be seen in FIGURE 2 together with six selector bars of which the front one is designated by the reference numeral 32. The position of this bar is sensed by transmission members 37 and 38. The member 37 is urged downwardly towards a projection on the end of the key bar 32 by a spring 35 and the member 38 is similarly urged by a spring 36. The transmission members 37 and 38 are coupled through rods 33 and 34, to levers 40 and 41 which are pivotable about an 4 axis 19 and perform the same function as the levers 20 and 21 shown in FIGURE 1.

The operation of the arrangement illustrated in FIG- URE 2 is similar to that of the arrangement illustrated in FIGURE 1.

It is to be noted that, if in the arrangement illustrated in FIGURE 1, the selector finger 4 is in the position illustrated in full lines and if the carriage is then lifted into the upper position by hand, the carriage will immediately be returned into the correct position by rotation of the shaft 6, since the manual displacement of the carriage will cause the end of the lever 27 to be moved away from the lever 21 so that the latter is free to move and pull the cord 24. Similarly, in the arrangement illustrated in FIGURE 2, if the selector bar 32 is in the position associated with the lower position of the carriage and the carriage is then displaced by hand into the upper position, the carriage will be returned into the lower position as the result of the release of the lever 41.

In both arrangements the construction of the cam 3a and the relative positions of the shafts are such that the adjustment of the carriage is initiated as soon as possible after the printing of one character and is terminated shortly before the printing of the next following character. For a typing speed of 6 characters per second milliseconds are available for moving the carriage and this still leaves 25 milliseconds between the instant of printing one character to the start of the carriage shift and a further 25 milliseconds from the end of the car= riage shift to the printing of the next character. Before and after each carriage shift, the shaft 7 rotates for an additional 10 milliseconds.

FIGURE 3 is a diagram which illustrates the application of the invention to a machine having type levers each of which carries four characters, eg a, A. In this case the change-over between A and a and between and is brought about by the operation of a type group change-over key. The change-over between a and and between A and on the other hand, is brought about automatically by means of the sixth unit of the telegraph code. A change-over between A and or a and necessitates both the operation of the type group change-over key and also the automatic adjustment of the carriage in dependence on the sixth unit of the telegraph code. The type group change-over key acts in this case by lifting or lowering the type lever basket by an amount s, whereas the carriage must be lifted or lowered by the amount 2s.

In the arrangement illustrated in FIGURE 4 it has been assumed that each type lever carries six characters, e.g. a, 3, 'y, a, A. By means of a telegraphy alphabet of more than six units of which more than one is utilised for determining the type group, it is possible by a corresponding modification of the arrangements illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2 to adjust the type roller into any of the positions designated by I, II, III, I, II, or III in FIGURE 4. In this case fractions in mathematical formulas can be printed and transmitted by means of characters set high or low with back-spacing and special characters such as the integral sign may be set two places above the other characters.

One possible arrangement of the carriage of a printing machine according to the invention is illustrated in FIG- URE 5. The type roller 11 is mounted for rotation in side plates 42 and 43 which also carry at the points 42a and 43a a ribbon device (not shown). The side plates are connected to a carrying tube 44 by means of clamping connections and this tube also carries a guide member 45 having a forked end which embraces the typing cylinder lift shaft 7. Two levers 46 and 47 which are symmetrically arranged with respeet to the centre of the roller 11 are pivotable about a shaft 48 mounted on the machine frame 49. The free ends of the levers 46 and 47 carry a rod 50 which is fixed in the side plates 42 and 43. The carriage is supported by two columns 51 and 52 which are provided with holes through which the rod 50 passes. These columns are also symmetrically arranged with respect to the centre of the roller and thus to the centre of gravity S of the carriage. The lower ends of the columns are provided with channel members which embrace the cams 8 and 9 in the manner explained for the components 10a and 10b. The force exerted by the columns 51 and 52 is directed so that it passes through the centre of gravity S which lies approximately at the centre of the rod 50.

The arrangement illustrated in FIGURE tends to reduce any tendency of the carriage to oscillate. Further the carriage guides are substantially free from acceleration forces and friction is reduced to a minimum.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A page-printing teleprinter comprising printing means, control means for causing said printing means to print one character when said control means is in a first state and a difierent character when said control means is in a second state, driving means for changing the state of the control means in response to the actuation of an initiating member, a member movable into one of two positions in dependence on one unit of a multi-unit code, two pivoted levers each urged towards one end position and one being prevented from reaching its said end position when the movable member is in one of its two positions and also when the control means is in its first state and the other being prevented from reaching its said end position when the movable member is in the other of its two positions and also when the control means is in its second state, cam means preventing both levers from reaching their end positions until said movable member has been moved into the position corresponding to said unit of the multi-unit code, and means for actuating said initiating member in response to the movement of either of said two pivoted levers into its said end position.

2. A page-printing type-writing machine comprising first and second groups of keys, a plurality of printing members, control means for causing each of said printing members to print one character when the control means is in a first state and to print a different character when the control means is in a second state, driving means for changing the state of the control means in response to the actuation of an initiating member, two spring-loaded camcontrolled levers one of which is locked when the control means is in its first state and also when any key in said first group of keys is actuated and the other of which is locked when the control means is in its second state and also when any key is said second group of keys is actuated, and means for actuating said initiating member in response to movement of either of said two levers.

3. A page-printing teleprinter comprising a plurality of printing members, control means for changing the character printed by each of said printing members in dependence on the state of the control means, a receiving member set in dependence on one element of each received character code combination, two pivoted levers each urged towards an operative position when said receiving member has been set, first locking means preventing a selected one of said levers from reaching its operative position in dependence on the setting of the receiving member, second locking means preventing a selected one of said levers from reaching its operative position in dependence on the state of the control member, and means actuated by the movement of either of said pivoted levers into its operative position for initiating a change of the state of the control means.

4. A page-printing teleprinter comprising at least two type groups, keys associated with each of said type groups, a machine member which is adjustable into one of two positions for printing said different type groups, an adjustable device for said machine member, an auxiliary drive, a positionable member associated with a particular element of a multi-unit telegraph code, two transmission members adapted to sense the position of said positionable member, cam means on a control shaft adapted to release said transmission members to become effective at a time which corresponds to said particular element of the telegraph code, and means controlled by said transmission members for coupling said adjustment device to said auxiliary drive.

5. A teleprinter as claimed in Claim 4, including means for locking that one of the two transmission members which is associated with the actual position of the said machine member.

6. A page-printing teleprinter comprising a movable machine member, drive means, normally inefiective means coupling said movable machine member to said drive means, two transmission members each operable to render said normally inefiective coupling means effective, a receiving selector finger positioned in dependence on a predetermined element of a multi-unit telegraph code, and means controlled by said selector finger and said machine member for disabling one of said transmission members when the pre-determined element in the code is difierent in two successive code combinations and for disabling both of said transmission members when the pre-determined element in the code is the same in two successive code combinations.

7. A page-printing teleprinter comprising a machine member movable into two positions a first of which corresponds to a pre-determined element of a multi-unit telegraph code being a mark and the second of which corresponds to said pre-determined element being a space, drive means, normally ineffective means coupling said machine member to said drive means, two transmission members each operable to render said normally ineffective coupling means effective to change said machine member from whichever position it is in to the other position, a receiving selector finger set in a first position when said predetermined element is a mark and in a second position when said predetermined element is a space, and means controlled by said selector finger and said machine member for disabling one of said transmission members when the machine member is in the first position while the selector finger is in the second position, for disabling the other of said transmission members when the machine member is in the second position while the selector finger is in the first position, and for disabling both transmission members when the machine member is in the first position while the selector finger is in the first position and also when the machine member is in the second position while the selector finger is in the second position.

8. A page-printing type-writing machine, comprising first and second groups of keys, a movable machine member, drive means, normally inefiective means coupling said movable machine member to said drive means, two transmission members each operable to render said normally ineffective coupling means effective, and means for disabling one of said transmission members when two keys in different groups are actuated in succession and for disabling both of said transmission members when two keys in the same group are actuated in succession.

9. A page-printing type-writing machine, comprising first and second groups of keys, a machine member movable into a first position associated with said first group of keys and into a second position associated with said second group of keys, drive means, normally ineffective means coupling said machine member to said drive means, two transmission members each operable to render said normally infiective coupling means effective to change the position of the machine member, means for disabling one of said transmission members when a key in said first group of keys is actuated and for disabling the other of said transmission members when a key in said second group of keys is actuated, and further means for disabling said one of said transmission members when the machine member is in said second position and for disabling said other of said transmission members when the machine member is in said first position.

10. A page-printing teleprinter comprising printing means, control means for causing said printing means to print one character when said control means is in a first state and a different character when said control means is in a second state, a rotating drive shaft, rotatable means for changing the state of the control means, a slipping clutch between said drive shaft and said rotatable means, a locking lever for preventing rotation of said rotatable means, a cord for releasing said locking lever, a selector member movable into a first position corresponding to said one character and into a second position corresponding to said different character, two transmission members each operable to pull said cord, means for.preventing operation of one of said transmission members when said selector member is in said first position and for preventing operation of the other of said transmission members when said selector member is in said second position, and further means for preventing operation of said one of said transmission members when said control means is in said second state and for preventing operation of said other of said transmission members when said control means is in said first state.

11. A page-printing type-writing machine comprising a plurality of type levers, a type roller carriage, a lifting member connected to said carriage, cam means operable on said lifting member to move the type roller carriage between a first typing position and a second typing position, a first shaft carrying said cam means, a second shaft, a two-to-one reduction gear coupling said first shaft to said second shaft, and means for causing said second shaft to perform one revolution whenever a change of typing position is required.

12. A machine as claimed in claim 11, wherein the lifting member acts substantially on the centre of gravity of the type roller carriage.

13. A machine as claimed as claim 11, including additional means for adjusting the position of the type levers in relation to the type roller carriage.

No references cited. 

